Trong Hoang's father: 'Tears fell because my son bled and then won the SEA Games'

Born into a family with a father who is a police officer and an older sister who is also in the police force, Trong Hoang was originally a well-behaved boy with good academic performance, so his parents gradually oriented their son to follow a police career.

But then from school and ward level tournaments, Trong Hoang was discovered by teachers and persuaded to join SLNA to practice football. After three years of hard training, in early 2003, Trong Hoang was selected to join the Vietnam U14 team to participate in the Southeast Asian Championship in Thailand, winning a bronze medal. After that, achievements continued to come to Hoang when he won medals in the national U17, U19 and U21 tournaments.

After winning the U17 National Championship as captain, Trong Hoang faced a crossroads in his life, either to pursue a career in football or to listen to his father and pursue a career in the police. So every night, Trong Hoang sneaked into his father's room to persuade him. Because Trong Hoang believed that he truly loved and had the ability to become a professional football player.

Mr. Nguyen Trong Huong was emotional when talking about his son. Photo: TK

Many times when talking about not going to university to pursue a career in football, father and son had a "cold war" for a few days. Trong Hoang said: "Of course, my parents always want to guide me to the best career, but it was my ability and passion that made my father agree."

After missing the 24th SEA Games due to his high school graduation exam, Trong Hoang became the main factor, the most expected at the 2009 SEA Games in Laos. In the match against Malaysia in the group stage, Trong Hoang scored 1 goal but in the final match, he did not recover from his injury in time.

It was one of the most painful SEA Games in the history of Vietnamese football. Defender Mai Xuan Hop's own goal mistake prolonged the historical debt, millions of tears were shed and that sadness also appeared in the small house of Mr. Nguyen Trong Huong.

10 years ago, Trong Hoang had to say sorry but now he can say thank you. Photo: Hai Hoang

After 10 years, Trong Hoang has become the “unique” player of Vietnam who has won all the major and minor titles, from youth level, club level to U22, Olympic and national team. And when his son joined U22 Vietnam in the journey to conquer the SEA Games in the Philippines, Mr. Huong was in tears.

In the match between U22 Vietnam and U22 Indonesia in the group stage, Trong Hoang was fouled by his opponent and his knees were bleeding. Seeing that image, Mr. Huong confided: “I was in tears when I saw my son injured. Hoang called me and said he was okay, but I felt so sorry for him that I didn’t know what to do. Trong Hoang has been injured many times, but I have never shed tears.”

And then Trong Hoang still played in the final match with two unhealed knees that had to be bandaged. He and U22 Vietnam made Indonesia suffer a bitter defeat and ended their 60-year thirst for the SEA Games championship.

In a small house in Dong Vinh ward, Vinh city, Mr. Huong and his wife watched the SEA Games final with their neighbors. Mr. Huong’s eyes were still red when he saw his son’s tireless running. Those were tears of happiness and pride.

Trong Hoang reveals coach Park Hang-seo's substitution strategy

(Baonghean.vn) - Since coach Park Hang-seo came to Vietnamese football, Trong Hoang has achieved many successes, from the 2018 AFF Cup to the 30th SEA Games championship. After each tournament, he is always grateful to his wife and his coach at the national team.